People are obsessed with looking younger, but what about staying sharp?
For many, the brain is not a priority until something goes wrong. But by then, you may have missed the opportunity to anticipate the problem.
“Basically, everything we do now shapes our brain health in the future,” Dr. Randy D’Amico, director of the Brain and Spine Metastasis Neurosurgery Program at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital, told the Post.
After all, genetics plays a role, but it’s not everything. Unlike your DNA, many of the factors that shape your cognitive health are within your control.
“The habits you develop now are an investment in who you will be in the future,” D’Amico said.
These are the seven daily habits that are quietly damaging your brain and what you can do about it.
1. Sitting too much
Your brain doesn’t like being a couch potato.
In fact, physical inactivity can take a toll on your vascular health – the condition of your blood vessels – which can also have an impact upstairs.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be a great athlete, but you just have to move,” D’Amico said.
The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week for adults to stay healthy.
“That’s the number you want to try to hit,” D’Amico said. “Your brain expects your body to move.”
2. Treat sleep like it doesn’t matter
Skimping on sleep isn’t just a recipe for a groggy morning.
“If you treat sleep like it’s not important, you’re doing your brain a disservice,” D’Amico said.
Insufficient or poor quality sleep can impair attention, memory and mood. It can also have detrimental consequences on metabolic and vascular health.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends adults get at least seven hours of sleep per night, although the ideal amount varies from person to person.
“Everyone is a little different; you need to get the amount of sleep that’s right for you,” D’Amico said. “But it’s important to be consistent.”
That’s because your brain doesn’t just turn off when you go to bed. Instead, he’s busy performing important maintenance.
“That’s when you consolidate education and learning and memory,” D’Amico said. “Incorporating sleep is actually essential to maintaining brain health.”
3. Live on ultra-processed foods
“It’s not just one type of food that’s a bad thing, it’s eating habits,” D’Amico said.
A diet high in refined and ultra-processed foods – and light on vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, healthy fats and quality proteins – can affect your weight, cholesterol, glucose levels and blood pressure.
And all of these factors are important for the brain.
“Cerebrovascular health and cognitive health are essential together, so if you’re not paying attention to nutrition, you’re ignoring one of the key determinants of long-term brain health,” D’Amico said.
“I think the best way to think about it is what’s good for your arteries is good for your brain, so cardiovascular health is brain health. You want to limit ultra-processed foods.”
4. Ignoring Your Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, and Blood Sugar
“If you want to preserve your brain, you have to pay attention to these numbers,” D’Amico said.
High blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes can damage blood vessels, especially those that supply the brain with oxygen and essential nutrients.
The problem, D’Amico explains, is that these warning signs are often overlooked.
“You feel fine, so people ignore it, but these processes can develop silently for years before you notice any symptoms – and this can have significant long-term consequences,” he said. “We see this every day.”
5. Living in a constant state of distraction
“This is an important project that should resonate with children and adults,” D’Amico said.
Between smartphones, constant notifications, social media and an endless stream of content, modern life can easily distract our attention.
The consequences go beyond just feeling distracted. Constant stimulation can interfere with sleep while eliminating activities that challenge and strengthen the mind. Over time, this can impair our ability to concentrate and think clearly.
It’s a problem D’Amico worries about in his own children – and admits he struggles with himself.
“We are all guilty of disasters, and there are times in our lives when we can’t stop,” he said. “But if you never challenge yourself to sustain your attention for any length of time, you can’t really be surprised if you can’t sustain your attention.”
D’Amico’s solution? Bring some boredom back into your life.
“I read every night now. I go home, turn everything off, lie on my couch and read quietly,” he said.
“It’s hard for me – and I’m a neurosurgeon. I read for so many years to learn everything. And I still have a hard time focusing on just that because my brain always wants to move on to something else.”
It’s a lesson he tries to teach his children, too.
“You have to relearn how to tolerate boredom,” D’Amico said. “You don’t need to fill every empty moment with stimulation.”
6. Letting your social world shrink
Humans are social creatures, but as people spend more time behind screens and less time interacting face-to-face, meaningful social connections can disappear.
“Social isolation has been identified as a modifiable risk factor for dementia-related cognitive decline,” D’Amico said.
Scientists don’t fully understand all of the mechanisms behind this connection, but meaningful social interaction forces the brain to work – attracting attention, language, memory, emotion processing and the ability to respond to another person.
“It’s not the same as having 20,000 followers on social media. That’s not social engagement,” D’Amico said. “Your brain evolved to interact with real human beings, with other brains, to kind of have this back and forth.”
7. Use substances to regulate how you feel
“If you think you need nicotine to concentrate or alcohol to relax or fall asleep, it’s worth looking into,” D’Amico said.
Tobacco exposure is harmful to vascular and brain health, while excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to neurological and cognitive damage.
But there’s another problem, D’Amico noted.
“When a substance becomes your automatic response to stress, fatigue, boredom or sleep, you are integrating an addiction into your daily routine,” he explained.
“The goal should be to develop ways to regulate states that do not require a substance.”
Gn Health
